


Catsitting

by JRCash



Series: Gingerpilot Modern AU [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gingerpilot, M/M, New York City, generalpilot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-05-09
Packaged: 2018-10-29 20:08:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10861173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JRCash/pseuds/JRCash
Summary: While Hux is away on a business trip, Poe is left to look after his boyfriend's beloved orange tabby.





	Catsitting

**Author's Note:**

> Based on bits of “Inside Llewyn Davis” but goes in it’s own direction. Fits into the same world as “Souvenirs” but works as a stand alone. If you haven’t read that, basically in this world Poe is a commercial airline pilot and Hux is an architect. They have just moved in together in a refurbished Brooklyn loft.

Poe didn’t necessarily  _ dislike  _ cats.  He’d just never had any experience with them, or pets of any kind for that matter.  Growing up with two parents enlisted in the Air Force meant frequent moves and never a pet of his own due to base housing regulations against them.    

 

He’d agreed, not that he really had much say in the matter, that he’d take care of Millicent for the week.  They’d only been living in their new loft for a few days, their move unfortunately coinciding with a business trip Hux had already planned months prior.  

 

Hux and Millicent were a package deal.  He knew that from the start.  If he was going to be living with Hux, something he really  _ really _ did want, he’d just have to get used to his boyfriend’s cat. 

 

Millicent was still getting used to her new surroundings, spending most of her time hidden beneath the couch or tucked away behind the long curtains that hung over the windows that looked out over Brooklyn. She seemed to like the view and the sunshine, but would quickly jump down from the window ledge and scamper away if Poe came near.  

 

Hux had left for the airport long before the sun had rose, leaving Poe with a detailed list of instructions on the care and keeping of his cat on the nightstand and a quick kiss on the cheek. He, in typical Hux fashion, had read and re-read the list with Poe the night before his departure to make sure he understood all of the points.  Poe assured him that he did, even if he’d zoned out halfway through the first page. How hard could it be to make sure she was fed and had fresh water?  Clean her litter as needed and feed her a few treats before he left for the day?

 

Nuzzling her face against Poe’s scruffy jawline, Millicent purred loudly.  Her whiskers tickled his nose, causing him to stir in his sleep, blinking a few times as he woke up to the strange sensation before realizing that a cat was standing on his chest.  

 

Reaching a hand out from beneath the covers, Poe scratched between the orange tabby’s ears, eliciting a soft meow from her.  

 

“You’re not so bad” Poe said as Millicent turned her head to rub against his palm.  “You’re actually kind of cute when you're not being a reclusive weirdo”.  

 

Poe reached to pet the top of the cat’s head again, but his sudden movement startled her.  Pushing off from Poe’s chest, she hopped down off the bed and trotted away.

 

Poe glanced over to the clock beside the bed.  He groaned as he read the time.  7:12 am.  As much as he planned on sleeping in on his days off, which also happened to poorly timed during Hux’s absence, he knew falling back asleep now wasn’t going to happen.  Kicking the blankets from his body, he got up and made his way to the kitchen.    

 

Millicent was nowhere in sight as Poe set the coffee maker to brew and reached for the container of kitty food on top of the fridge to fill Millicent’s bowl.  _ Two scoops only _ , Hux had reminded him time and time again. Apparently Millicent had very little self control and would eat until she made herself sick if given enough food to do so, something Poe most definitely did not want to have to clean up after. He’d seen Hux wipe up a hairball once and seriously questioned how he managed to do so without retching himself.

Feeling hungry himself, Poe open the fridge, grabbing a carton of eggs and setting them on the counter before reached above into the cabinet for a bowl. He made quick work of his breakfast as he cracked three eggs into the bowl, tossing the shells into the nearby trash bin before whisking them and pouring them into a pan to cook.  He absentmindedly stirred them as they firmed up over the heat of the stove.  A pitter patter of paws against the tile kitchen floor followed by loud crunching alerted him to Millicent’s presence.  She was happily crouched down in front of her bowl eating her breakfast as he prepared his.  

 

“Figured you’d come out for food” Poe said towards the cat he scraped his scrambled eggs from the pan onto a plate. Millicent paused for a moment, looking up towards Poe with her large tabby eyes.  Finding nothing interesting about the man standing in an undershirt and boxers talking to her, she focused back on her kibbles.

 

Poe balanced his breakfast and his mug of coffee in his hands as he made his way to the living room.  Sitting down onto the couch, he set his mug onto the coffee table and leaned back to balance the plate on his stomach.  He knew if Hux was here he’d be gently reminded that  _ we have a perfectly good table to eat at. _   Taking a forkful of food, he chewed slowly, looking around the apartment.  A stack of moving boxes sat in the corner, waiting for his attention.  They had put away the essential things right after the move, but Hux’s books and Poe’s extensive record collection still needed to be arranged on shelves.  

 

He need to run a few errands first, deciding that his records could wait until another day.  It would likely be a job that would take up most of an afternoon, seeing that it was one of the few things in his life aside from flying that he was meticulous about.  He always made sure his records were categorized not only alphabetically, but also by genre.  

 

Passing back through the kitchen, he deposited his plate and empty mug into the sink, noticing that Millicent was gone from her bowl.  He continued on to the bedroom, picking up a pair of jeans he’d left on the floor the day before.  Pulling them on, he rummaged around the closet, settling on an old t shirt that was well worn, but comfortable.  He hardly cared if he looked nice or not.  There was no one he needed to impress at the corner bodega or the grocery store a few subway stops away.  After brushing his teeth and running his fingers a few times through his unruly curly hair, he grabbed his wallet and phone off the nightstand and made his way to leave.  

He’d barely gotten the door to the apartment open when he felt something brush past his ankles.

“Millie!” Poe shouted, the orange tabby dashing down the hallway towards the staircase that lead down to the outside.  In a panic, he let go of the apartment door, the heavy steel shutting behind him as he sprinted after her.  “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He hardly cared about the noise he was making as he chased the wayward cat.      

 

“Gotcha!” he exclaimed as he scooped the cat up from the stairs with a single hand, turning her so he was able to cradle her.  He began walking back down the hall, Millicent happily purring in his arms as if nothing had happened.

Nudging the apartment door open with his foot, he was thankful he had left the deadbolt open.  He couldn’t imagine what he’d do if he’d gotten locked out with a cat.  There was no way he’d be able to take her on his errands or on the subway with him.

 

Setting the cat down inside the apartment, Millicent trotted away across the living room with her tail held high.  She seemed contented with her little adventure and the fact she gave Poe a miniature heart attack in the process.  Hopping up onto the windowsill, she quickly became engrossed in licking her front paw in the warm sunshine, completely ignoring Poe as he glared at her from doorway.  Wiping the few beads of sweat that had formed on his brow in the chaos, Poe shut the door, twisting the key and jiggling the handle, making sure it was locked firmly.  He knew Millicent didn’t posses the skills needs to open a door, but the last thing he ever wanted to do was explain to Hux was how he accidentally let his cat escape.  

* * *

 

 

Poe felt his phone buzzing in his front pocket as climbed the staircase that up lead to the street from the subway.  Fishing the device out, he smiled as he read the caller id and quickly swiped across the screen to answer.  

 

“Hey babe” Poe answered cheerfully.  “How was your flight?”  

 

“Would have been better if you were here with me”  Hux’s voice replied from thousands of miles away.  His flight to Los Angeles had been anything but exciting and his morning had been spent in a pointless meeting that could had waited until he had at least checked into his hotel and settled in.  “How’s everything at home?”

 

“Good, good”.  Poe debated if he should share Millicent’s escape with Hux, deciding that it would be best to not share in fear of worrying Hux.  “Just out now doing some running around”.  

 

“How’s Millicent been?  Were my feeding instructions clear enough?”  

 

Poe laughed.  As much as he loved his boyfriend, he wondered if he’d ever done something dumb enough to make Hux think he wasn’t capable of putting the proper amount of food into a bowl for a housecat.  “She’s fine.  Still getting used to the new place but she’s been a little more outgoing”.  

 

Hux breathed a sigh of relief.  While traveling for business was commonplace for him, he always worried about Millicent while he was away.  

 

Poe could hear other voices on Hux’s end of the call, followed by his boyfriend’s voice in a clipped tone.  “Can it wait for a second?  I’m on a call”.  He could hear Hux let out an annoyed huff.  “Fine.  I’ll be right in”.  

 

“You still there?” Hux asked Poe.  

 

“Yeah”.  

 

“I've got to go.  Apparently Kylo can’t wait five minutes to go over this blueprint”.

Poe smiled.  Hux often complained about his coworker Kylo Ren.  While both men were senior architects at the firm, it often seemed to Poe that Hux played babysitter to a rather volatile man-child who couldn’t control his emotions when things didn’t go his way.  After hearing Hux rant about Kylo’s behavior and meeting him once at the company holiday party, he understood why some days Hux came home and poured himself a stiff drink before he even took off his coat.

 

“I’ll call you later” Hux assured.  “Love you” 

 

“Love you too”.    

Tucking his phone back into his pocket, Poe continued about his morning. 

* * *

 

 

Poe tried to balance the bags of groceries in his arm and the handful of mail he’d picked up from their box in the lobby all while trying to fit the correct key into the apartment door.  As the lock clicked open, Poe saw the flash of orange fur near the bottom of the door and quickly stuck his foot out to catch Millicent before she could run down the hall again.

 

“Oh no you don’t” he chided to the cat as he nudged her back inside and closed the door behind him with a bump of his hip. 

 

Millicent meowed a few times, chirping happily as she followed Poe to the kitchen.  Setting the groceries and mail onto the counter, he began unpacking the items from bags.  Millicent weaved through his legs, nearly tripping him as he leaned into the fridge to put away a bag of sliced cheese into the deli drawer.  

 

“Geez, Millie, careful” Poe warned to the cat who was still near his feet.  She meowed again, staring up at him with wide eyes.  “What is it?”  Poe asked, feeling slightly ridiculous he was talking to a cat.  In a single leap, Millicent hopped from the floor to the counter and began rubbing against the side of the paper grocery bag.  

 

“Oh no”  Poe said as he wrapped his hands around the cat’s middle, picking her up and placing her back on the floor.  “No cats on the counter”.  

 

Millicent gave him a pouty look before walking over to her now empty food bowl.  Sitting down in front of the bowl, she reached out one paw, slapping it against the side.  The metal bowl clamored against the tile floor as it rolled onto it’s side.  Poe leaned over the side of the counter, grabbing the bowl with two fingers to place it back upright where it belonged.

 

“No Millicent.  You got breakfast already” Poe reminded the cat firmly.  He remembered that part of Hux’s instructions clearly.  Two meals a day for the cat, no more.  Millicent let out an annoyed meow before slinking away.  Poe couldn’t help to think how Hux would do the same thing when aggravated, a low huff instead of a meow before turning on his heel.

* * *

 

The next few days, Poe found that sleeping in was never going to happen as much as he wanted it to.  Millicent, without fail, would paw at his chest and meow loudly before eight o’clock every morning, demanding he get up and feed her.  He’d grumble about how she could wait a few more hours before kicking off the blankets and giving in to her wishes.  The cat had become more comfortable around him, most likely knowing that he was now the hand that was feeding her.  Instead of hiding away under the couch, the orange tabby would often follow Poe around the loft.  Usually in the evenings as he relaxed on the couch, Millicent would curl herself into a ball next to him, purring contently as he pet her side.  He had to admit he liked the companionship in the absence of Hux.  He was beginning see why his boyfriend liked the little furball so much.    

 

Poe finally got around to unpacking his record collection.  Hux was due home that evening and he was growing antsy awaiting his return and figured the task would be a good distraction for a few hours.  

 

As he pulled the last stack of records from the moving box, setting them among the piles of records already stacked around the bookshelf waiting to be organized, he noticed Millicent sauntering across the living room.  He watched as Millicent hopped gracefully into the empty box, popping her head up wide eyed before ducking back down into the cardboard.  He couldn’t help but to laugh at the tabby’s enjoyment of being in the box.  

 

“What are you doing in there, Millie?” Poe asked as he sat down on the floor cross legged.  He reached over to the box, scratching his fingernails against the cardboard, causing Millicent to pounce from within the box at the noise.  Laughing again, he repeated the action.  The box scooted a few inches against the floor as Millicent pounced again from within.  The orange tabby popped her head up from the top of the box, resting her paws against the edge giving Poe a long look.

 

“It wasn’t me!” Poe joked towards the cat, causing her to tilt her head with a curious look before dropping back into box.  Poe seized the opportunity to scratch against the box again, causing Millicent’s tail to twitch before pouncing again.  

 

Hux opened the apartment door, wheeling his in luggage behind him.  As he shut the door, he heard Millicent meow, followed by Poe’s hearty laugh.  Abandoning his suitcase, Hux walked towards the living room, finding Poe laying on his stomach near a cardboard box.  

 

“What are you doing?”  Hux asked, smiling at the sight he’d come home to. The fact Poe and Millicent have warmed up to one another while he was away delighted him.   

 

The sound of Hux’s voice caused Millicent to abandon her hunt and pop out from the box, heading straight for her owner.  Hux scooped her up in his arms, giving her a kiss on top of her head.   

 

“You’re home early”  Poe said cheerfully as he pushed himself off the floor and made his way towards Hux.      

 

The two kissed above Millicent, who let out a happy meow as they pressed their lips against one another.  

 

“I got an earlier flight back”  Hux explained as he broke away from the kiss.  “The group in L.A. loved the plans and signed the deal as quick as possible”.  Moving to set Millicent down on the floor, she scampered quickly back to the empty box, allowing Hux to finally embrace Poe fully.  

 

“Plus I missed you” Hux hummed as he traced his fingers up the back of Poe’s shirt.  “I didn’t like sleeping alone”.  

 

Poe smiled as he tucked a loose strand of ginger hair behind Hux’s ear.  He always slicked his hair back to perfection, but had no doubt fallen asleep on the plane, ruffling his usually coiffed style.  “Millicent has taken a liking to sleeping in bed with me”.  

 

“I feel like I’m going to have to fight for your attention now” Hux replied playfully.  Millicent had always slept near him before Poe had come into the equation, deciding after he had started sharing the bed with the strange man, she’d find another place to rest at night.  

 

“I don’t mind sharing you.  But only with her” Poe said as he held Hux close, enjoying the fact he was back in his arms.  It was only a week that he was gone, but it had seemed so much longer.  

 

Hux gave Poe another kiss, pressing his lips against the pilots, losing himself in the feeling until he heard a tell tale wheezing coming from the box behind them.    

 

Hux immediately let go of Poe, who followed him over to where Millicent was unceremoniously hacking up a hairball inside of the empty box.  

 

“Oh Millie, sweetheart, are you okay?” Hux chided in a worried tone.  She looked up at the two men staring down at her before hopping from the box and happily walking away with a skip in her step.   

 

Hux couldn’t help to smile as Poe glanced over at him, his face twisted into a disgusted expression at the cat’s actions.   

  
“You are still cleaning up after her when she does that”. 


End file.
